I just finished the Half-Blood Prince

[SublimeBirthGirl]

I'm a little slow-I just decided to read the HP books this year. I finished #6 today and I feel shell shocked. I am trying to decide if I need to take a break before moving on to #7. I don't see how she could possibly fix this mess in one book though I also don't know how it could get worse. Although, I thought after I read Order of the Phoenix it couldn't get any worse. She sure showed me...

[blue butterfly]

i read 5, 6, and 7 in a row. i couldn't imagine finishing 6 and not jumping rite into 7! the only thing that made me not want to read 7 was knowing that this was the last time i would be starting a new HP book!

[LiamnEmma]

ahhh, a virgin. How lovely. How I delighted in re-reading every word just before Dealthy Hallows was released. I envy you your travels. Read it!

[gwerydd]

Originally Posted by blue butterfly

i read 5, 6, and 7 in a row. i couldn't imagine finishing 6 and not jumping rite into 7! the only thing that made me not want to read 7 was knowing that this was the last time i would be starting a new HP book!

: it made me so sad knowing the story was over. i have been having weird HP dreams lately.

[MandaBear]

Originally Posted by SublimeBirthGirl

I'm a little slow-I just decided to read the HP books this year. I finished #6 today and I feel shell shocked. I am trying to decide if I need to take a break before moving on to #7. I don't see how she could possibly fix this mess in one book though I also don't know how it could get worse. Although, I thought after I read Order of the Phoenix it couldn't get any worse. She sure showed me...

Oh, jump right into book #7! Jo really wraps things up well, IMO.

[Ruthla]

She doesn't wrap up EVERY loose end, but she wraps up enough of them.

I'm glad I had the experience of being part of the HP fan community when HBP came out, to join in with others speculating what might happen, re-reading and looking between the lines of all 6 books for hints of what might be coming in the last book.

When I first finished HBP, I was all "OMG, Snape is evil!!!" and then I read and reread between the lines and thought "hmm, maybe he's NOT evil afterall... but I can't be sure, and maybe it's all just wishful thinking and he really is a bad guy." You have the opportunity to read the last book right away and find out for certain, without having to wait two whole years to read the conclusion!

So it's up to you- do you want to find out how this ends, or do you want to let it all digest a while first and try to savor it longer? It's a shame the long HBP thread is no longer here- you'd be able to share in some of our theories that we came up with before reading the last book. (It got deleted for too many references to explicit fan fiction.) I don't know if any really old threads may still exist on other Harry Potter fan sites- it's just too easy to click the wrong thing and read book 7 spoilers.